Ed
Something else I read recently (I forget where), suggests that babies
are programmed from the earliest stages of gestation and have already
learned a lot in the womb by the time they are born.
That's very native Ed. But from a non-native author consider the
below on the Pinker statement. Pinker's taking his knocks these
days from the Neurologists because of his labeling of the Arts as
"Evolutionary Cheesecake." It seems that they are much more
connected to Pinker's love (language) than he would like. That
music and language arose at the same time or maybe singing came first
before language and after rhythm and dance. That we are hardwired
by both neurology and the device of pleasure to do these things for
our own development. Consider this:
"the underlying purpose of music is in its attributes as a specific
language of perception that engages brain and behavior. This
engagement has a neurological basis and serves neurological purposes,
stimulating cognitive, affective and sensorimoter behavior in a way
unique to aesthetic perceptions. Forms and patterns of artworks
create a particular input to the brain that synchronizes perception
and cognition.....now understood within a biological framework, music
trains the senses, the body and the mind: The arts connect and
exercise brain function and the discovery of the physical world
through their unique modalities of aesthetic perception and aesthetic
expression.....
Michael H. Thaut "Rhythm Music and the Brain," 2005
I assume that the term modality here is the neurological meaning which
means a compartmentalized function that has its own physical
integrity. Current research says that the human brain is hardwired
to use the arts for development in the same way that it is hardwired
to use language grammar. Native people call this: "Original
Instructions" and we have a pedagogy for teaching the child in the
womb as well.
REH
----- Original Message -----
*From:* Ray Harrell <mailto:[email protected]>
*To:* 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION,EDUCATION'
<mailto:[email protected]>
*Sent:* Tuesday, July 20, 2010 4:06 PM
*Subject:* Re: [Futurework] Here's to mental health at 90!
That is what we do Natalia. I have a close friend who studied
with the Salish people and who helps me with these things. It's
not hard for a Traditional Indian to image these things and it's
also not hard for a musician who knows that reality is created in
the mind and disappears when you finish with it unlike the people
tied to the tyranny of touch and see and what they choose to call
the "Material" world. For me it is a matter of the English
language which is locked in Subjects and Direct Objects and hard
nouns and has a problem with describing process or the flow of
reality.
This is from the new Thaut book that I told you about:
With the advent of modern cognitive neuroscience and its new tools
of studying the human brain, "live," music as a highly complex,
temporally ordered and rule-based sensory language quickly became
a fascinating topic of study, probably driven by the quiet hope
that these new tools and paradigms would bring us closer to an
understanding of the function and role of music and its mechanisms
to attract our minds. In parallel to these aspirations, however,
another highly significant development in studying music
scientifically occurred, which was possibly less foreseen by many
researchers. We now know that by studying the physiology and
neurology of brain function in music we can actually obtain a
great deal of knowledge about general brain function, in regard to
the perception of complex auditory sound stimuli, time and rhythm
processing, differential processing of music and language as two
aural communication systems, biological substrates of learning
versus innate talent in the arts, and processing of higher
cognitive functions related to temporality and emotion. Music has
become a very useful model for brain research in perception and
cognition.
It has become quite clear in recent years that one of the most
interesting and provocative suggestions coming out of these
efforts in music and brain science is the realization of music as
a biologically deeply ingrained function of the human brain. The
brain has neural circuitry that is dedicated to music. Music is
associated with a specific yet complex brain architecture.
Sensitivity to music plays a critical role in the development of
all children regardless of the presence or absence of later
artistic achievement. Music is ubiquitous in all known historical
and present cultures. It is safe to say that music is much more
than cultural artifact, an icing on the cake of human evolution
after basic biological needs and developments were adaptively
satisfied. This will be discussed further in this book in relation
ship to a new paradigm of a neuroscience of aesthetics.
Rhythm, Music and the Brain: Scientific Foundations and Clinical
Applications, Michael H. Thaut. Routledge pg. viii.
Best,
REH.
*From:* [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]] *On Behalf Of
*Darryl or Natalia
*Sent:* Monday, July 19, 2010 8:03 PM
*To:* RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION
*Subject:* Re: [Futurework] Here's to mental health at 90!
That lovely lady's body would be suffering all the more if not for
her wise active mind. She's fortunate to have put it to good use
to eventually ease the transition to the next life.
Do you ever wonder how much easier this transition from active
mind to frailty to physical death would be if people could learn
to accept altered states as a natural function of their time on
Earth? If they had a shaman, spiritual or psychotherapist guide
them through these changes, is it possible they could unravel some
buried stuff and sojourn into new realms with dignity in tact
rather than be branded with senility?
As I glance at a list of Salish spirit quest altered states of
consciousness symptoms, described by Ludwig in the context of
trance and possession, 1968, I start to wonder:
1) alterations in thinking; including predominance of archaic
modes of thought, blurring of cause effect distinction, cognitive
ambivalence
2) disturbed time sense
3) loss of conscious control and inhibition which may be
relinquished in order to gain a greater, culturally defined power
4) change in emotional expression towards affective extremes
ranging from ecstasy to profound fear
5) body image changes; feelings of depersonalization,
derealization, dissolution of boundaries between self and
environment, often associated with dizziness, weakness, blurred
vision and analgesia
6) perceptual distortions,; hallucinations, illusions, visual
imagery, hyper-acuteness of perceptions, synaesthetic experiences
7) change in meaning; attachment of increased or specific
significance to subjective experience or external cues, leading to
thrilling feelings of insight, and revelation of "truth" which
then carries an unshakable conviction
8) sense of ineffable; the essence of the personal experience is
felt not to be directly communicable; and this is often explained
by varying degrees of amnesia
9) feelings of rejuvenation; of renewed hope or of rebirth
10) hyper-suggestibility: a propensity to accept, or to respond
uncritically to statements of an authority figure via
identification, or to cultural and group expectations.
Imagine walking someone through the first parts to have them weave
through the latter--without the feelings of grief and loss over
ego self. Picture them being with someone who knew what to watch
for, and who could interpret what was seen or felt, without being
overbearing or subjective. Western culture would call these
altered states psychogenic, most often observed in hypnosis,
religious revelation or hysterical dissociation. Christians call
it something else (like demonic possession), and yet differences
are about cultural rather than psychological or neurophysiological
states. But the term 'trance' designates a state of double
consciousness, between limiting state of awareness of personal
self and dream-like state of the para-personal self. The
"neuropsychological basis of the trance or possession state is the
dissociation of the self, which loses its experiential unity and
is converted into a secondary dual system of relational
experience." This "capacity to attain altered states of
consciousness are a universal property of the human central
nervous system, but their prevalence is the function of
socio-cultural variables" says Wolfgang G. Jilek, M.D., author of
/Indian Healing, Shamanic Ceremonialism in the Pacific Northwest
Today/. There may be a reason, a personal motivation for induction
of these states by seniors, and we're dismissing/misdiagnosing
their landmark passage as signs of demise.
I've long suspected that a lot of what's going on with cognitive
impairment has to do with mind taking a trek/break from chiefly
psychological pain and restraints. I suspect that at the first
signs of it, people ignore the warnings to search for peace
within. Seniors generally will become frightened and seek out
allopathic remedies, which may or may not be the answer. In my
observations, this usually marks the beginning of the end because
the drugs are so harmful, and require other drugs to alleviate the
adverse effects. Then, it's diarrhea city. Every elderly patient
I've observed, be it with Alzheimer's or depression, post-stroke
or what have you, has been bombarded with mind numbing
anti-depressants or systems depressants that typically lead to hip
fractures/falls that wouldn't likely have happened had the patient
stayed home, got meals delivered, and were allowed time to work it
out themselves or with some nursing or counseling. Sure, you have
those who might set the house on fire, but I'll bet they are more
in the numbers of those who are iatrogenic victims than not.
I've wondered how much rigidity and such things as giving away
one's personal power over time have to do with later brain
impairment or demise. Usually permanent physical condition arises
out of a predisposition for it, yet it's always different with
each patient. But if that person had been able to know themselves,
others and their world better in a more connected or fulfilling
light, would it have been easier for them? There's often a pattern
of a major resentment or trauma that should have been addressed.
Blockages that can cause very real symptoms that can all too
easily easily be assigned a clinical name. And once they hand over
their own well being to the care of others and pharmaceuticals,
they may never learn that looking at life differently will yield
different results. They've never been taught the tools, or the
resources in naturopathic remedies, and though spirituality might
take them there, their steady diet of religion or resentment
thereof fails to direct them. I believe religions should be taught
in school. All religions and spiritual beliefs, so that people
would know choice. Biggest thing going, along with science and
technology, and kids are forced to learn dogma from within
limiting parental purlieus, or worse still, from a religious
school they may be attending. Atheism should also be taught, not
just left fore kids to adopt without knowing the theory.
We all have to dream and experience freedom for our mind's
well-being. In material life, immediate gratification without
consequences would obviously lead to miscreant actions. Aside from
all of the physiological documented evidence one could present, I
suspect night dreams are the mind's coping strategy for daytime
maintenance of high energy, low frequency physicality. If we
didn't have the escape from the physical on a (preferably)
nocturnal basis, our minds would go nuts from chronic imagined
imprisonment--not so much physical but psychical. In aging, our
dream recall tends to diminish, resulting in less conscious
processing of subconscious experience. People with vivid recall
don't seem to experience this lessening, but they may become
victims of their own fear-based interpretations as the line
between conscious and subconscious crosses or merges. Most
psychologists could help these people to some extent, but getting
the help they need in time never happens.
Just thoughts. Not professional. What do you think?
Natalia
Ray Harrell wrote:
"I have to go visit a 90 year old Jewish lady whose brain is not
downsized. It's just her body. What a waste."
Hey Natalia, I was sad before I went. She is bright and worked
full time up until she was 88. She raised a daughter on her
own. The daughter became so self reliant that in her late teens
she hiked all over Europe and a lot of Asia, was a member of the
Bread and Puppet Theater and worked through college to a PHD in
Social Work. She rescued a couple of Indian children from the
wars in Central America and raised them as a single mother.
Because they are Indian she brought them to our community and
participated with them in our ceremonials and rituals.
Meanwhile she is known as an angel to the police because she would
step right in front of a policeman's gun to protect a child in a
drug dealers apartment. She is now retired but has gone back
to school and is continuing to do her profession privately.
What an amazing little woman with an amazing mother who smiled a
huge smile and spoke beautifully with a mind that speaks for
someone much younger than her 90+ years. So much knowledge in
so frail a body.
It was a gift to me today.
Thank you Miriam,
Wado Edoda.
REH
* *
*From:* [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>
[mailto:[email protected]] *On Behalf Of
*Michael Gurstein
*Sent:* Sunday, July 18, 2010 1:50 PM
*To:* 'RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION'
*Subject:* [Futurework] FW: [p2p-research] newsweek on The
Creativity Crisis
-----Original Message-----
*From:* [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>
[mailto:[email protected]] *On Behalf Of
*Michel Bauwens
*Sent:* Sunday, July 18, 2010 4:03 PM
*To:* Peer-To-Peer Research List
*Cc:* [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
*Subject:* [p2p-research] newsweek on The Creativity Crisis
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/07/10/the-creativity-crisis.html
--
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Connect: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com; Discuss:
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